Into the Woods
by fika1603
Summary: As someone who can acquire anything he wanted, Seto Kaiba thought nothing of purchasing a vast piece of land that had served as Domino City's public park for the longest time. But then opposition comes to the fore, including from the Heritage Centre which Tea Gardner was part of. Would Kaiba retract his selfish purchase, or is there a larger reason to it?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: hello guys! i know i've been busy with my crossover fic, but guess what? here's a new YGO fic!**

**i had this sitting in my comp for the longest time ever, half-completed, but i finally completed it earlier so i thought i ought to get it out for you guys.  
i haven't done an Azureshipping for a long time - so here's my new effort at it!**

**in some sense, this is also a testing chapter. if i get enough reviews (say, maybe around 5?), i'll treat it as a sign to continue.**

**so i hope you guys won't mind reading through this, and get back to me on it! (:**

**love, fika1603**

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"_Go on, look for love  
To the other side of the deep woods_

_(real love, my dear, is not for sale)"_

_-L'Arc~en~Ciel_

The stocky middle-aged man resisted a sigh as he sought to keep up with his client. He adjusted his name tag – Matsuda – as he paused for a while to let his client visually survey the area. This had been the third piece of land they had been to in less than five hours. The first piece of land had been dismissed as too expanse, despite its seclusion from the city area. The second piece of land had been ridiculed as "an entryway to the Domino City circus of people". The current piece of land, however, happened to be a privately-owned park open to members of the public who would like to escape from the bustle and traffic of city-life. It was this particular piece of land, hedged by woods on one side and overlooking a lake on other, which grabbed the interest of his particularly difficult client.

"If you'd like to see, Mr Kaiba, there's a small cabin that previously belonged to the owner at the edge of the woods," the property agent offered.

"Very well," came the aloof reply.

Matsuda promptly led the way along the paved path towards a quaint log cabin not too far from where they were. He turned to face his client, "Well, Mr Kaiba?"

From the expression playing on his client's face, Matsuda might as well had shown him an uninteresting rock. His client's blue eyes continued to carefully assess the area. Finally he asked, "The land that's for sale, it's this entire area? Inclusive of the lake and the woods?"

"Yes, but..." Matsuda hesitated.

"But what?"

"This area had been converted into a public park for decades, Mr Kaiba. And it's been rather popular with the people..."

"But it's still under private ownership."

"Well... technically, yes."

Seto Kaiba smoothly reached into his suit pocket, took out his cheque book, scribbled in an amount well twice of what the area was worth and handed it to Matsuda. "Good. Then I don't see what's the problem with buying over this place."

"But the park, Mr Kaiba?" Matsuda protested.

The young multi-billionaire owner of Domino City's largest corporation merely stared at him coldly. "It's my property, Mr Matsuda. _I'll_ decide if it's open or closed."

XO XO XO XO

The latest issue of the Domino Dailies landed with a loud, angry smack on the conference table. In large and bolded print, the front page read: New Owner Announced Closure of Kawatsuki Park. The entire city had been in disbelief and in uproar since the morning about the arbitrary decision to close down the popular public park. Such dissatisfaction probably intensified itself in the office of the Domino City Heritage Centre, and no one seemed more annoyed by the news than the Natural Aesthetics Department.

"What are we going to do about it?" a lithe blonde who was more comfortable to go by the name of Anya asked glumly, resting her chin on her cupped left hand and absent-mindedly stirring a cup of coffee with the right. "He has a point – it IS private property after all. It's just that the previous owner has been really generous to open it to the public."

"The centre should've pushed to gazette it as city property a long time ago!" her colleague bristled as she angrily plonked herself down in her chair. She was an attractive young woman of twenty-five, with chocolate brown hair that she had let grow out and an impressive record of both volunteer works with the Heritage Centre and excellent grades which secured her a position in the department despite being fresh out of college. Sighing, she dragged the newspaper towards her and looked on hopelessly at the photo of the new owner in the insert. "He hasn't changed, has he."

"Who? Seto Kaiba? Ah, Tea, wasn't he your... classmate or something?"

Tea Gardner thought for a while. "Yeah, but... " She stared at his photo again. "No. He's just so difficult that even if you view him as a friend he'll just reject you flat-out because you bring no additional value to his life."

"Then why don't you go and be the value to his life?" Anya grinned at her as she sat up. Ignoring the look Tea shot her, she pressed on. "I mean, he's been notoriously single all this while. There's been more news in the tabloid of him rejecting models, socialites and artistes than there are of him rumoured to be with any woman. And even then, I've never heard or read about him remotely seeing anyone."

Tea rolled her eyes. "Please, if any girl is sane, she wouldn't want to date him."

Anya shrugged. "But he is acquainted to you, after all. Can't you use that to our advantage in getting him to reopen the park?"

"Oh you mean, go up to him, bat my eyelashes and hope he'll change his mind?" Tea remarked sarcastically. She sighed. "Anya, he has the stubbornness of a diamond. No one but he himself can dent that stubbornness of his."

And his ego, Tea added quietly as she recalled her tumultuous yet rather adventurous high school years with him. She bore no grudge against him, she did not even dislike him like her friends Joey and Tristan did, but she did get annoyed by his level of superego which inflated sometimes at the wrong time.

"Then go be the other diamond!" Anya persisted. "Tea, just give it a try? I really don't want us to be spending department money and creating a huge media opportunity by bringing up the case to court. Yet."

Tea shook her head. "You have no idea what kind of person he is."

"That's your problem," Anya said conclusively. She eyed her rookie seriously. "This is an order, Tea. Persuade him to re-open the public park. Otherwise tell him that we won't hesitate to bring him to court."

XO XO XO XO

He peered down from the cockpit window of his private helicopter. A picketing team had formed at the entrance of his office - furious Domino City citizens jabbing fists and signs in the air as they seemed to (he presumed) hurl abuses in the direction of his towering office building.

"After we land, make sure the security clears them out of the office precinct," he ordered his pilot. "And keep the press away from here. I don't feel like facing them."

His pilot indicated his assent as he prepared to land on the top of the KaibaCorp office tower. Seto scarcely waited for the helicopter to fully reach the ground before he grabbed his briefcase and leapt out of the vehicle. He ignored the greetings from his employees who were quick to open the roof exit for him to stride through. When he reached the back door of his office on the 27th floor, he held up the locket around his neck to a scanner, which unlocked the hidden panoply of locks that held his room secure. Once he stepped in, he came face-to-face with a false wall, which pulled itself away from the floor via a hidden switch that was hidden under one of the floor panels. His main office was as immaculate as ever, courtesy of Roland who was the only employee apart from his secretary that he allowed unrestricted access into his room.

As he laid his duralumin briefcase onto his desk, he noticed that his secretary had left a few sticky notes on it, along with some files. The audits he had requested for had come in on time, and a few phone numbers indicating missed calls had been kindly annotated by his secretary. Most of them appeared to be from the press – no doubt to get his statement on his recent purchase. One, however, came from the Heritage Centre.

No doubt to protest against my purchase of that park, he thought aridly as he picked up the phone and dialled the number. Maybe I can get some pre-work entertainment.

The phone rang quite briefly before there was a response. A female voice answered, "Good morning, this is Tea Gardner of the Natural Aesthetics Department of Domino City Heritage Centire. How may I help you?"

Seto snickered. This was bound to be interesting. "Good morning, Gardner. I assume it was you who broke my tranquillity this morning with a phone call?"

"Kaiba?"

"What is it that _I_ can help you people with? If this is about the park, you're free to join the picketing mob in front of my office."

"Do you know what you're doing to the people of Domino, Kaiba?" Tea asked him heatedly. "You're taking away a beloved public space!"

"It's private grounds made public out of the good-heartedness of the former owner," Seto corrected her coolly. "I didn't take away a public space, as you put it, Gardner. My transaction is legal in the eyes of the civic authorities." He paused a while largely for her benefit. "Well, even if it's not legal, the civic authorities will allow me to make it legal."

His words had the effect he intended; it riled up Tea Gardner sitting in her cubicle in the Heritage Centre a few good kilometres away from his office tower. "Listen, Kaiba," she threatened. "If you're going to start on all this legal talk, then we won't hesitate to lodge a case against you in court."

"On what grounds?" he challenged. "I told you, my transaction is legally done."

"What are you planning to do with those grounds?" Tea asked stubbornly, refusing to back down from a lost case. "Build a new mansion?"

Seto snorted at her ridiculous proposition. "Are you stupid, Gardner? I've been living in the same place for almost twenty years. Why do I need another house to trap dust?"

"So then what are you planning for those grounds?"

"I don't have to answer you on that," he said airily. "Just hear this, Gardner: those grounds are mine. What I want to do to it is my business, and my business alone. Your Heritage Centre has zero jurisdiction over it, so move it!"

As if to reinforce the point that there was absolutely no room to manoeuvre for any potential negotiation, Seto Kaiba slammed the phone down, cutting off the call abruptly but only serving to incense the other party more.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: thanks so much for the reviews, guys! i really really appreciate it, so as a gift, here's a new chapter! it's a bit short, but i hope you guys like it!(:**

**feel free to post your reviews, i'd love to hear from you!**

**love, fika1603**

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"Well?" Anya demanded.

"Well what?" Tea shot back, letting slip the annoyance in her voice unintentionally. It had been close to five hours since the phone call, and Tea's mood hasn't improved one bit. All she wanted to do was to go home and rain curses on Seto Kaiba in some dark corner of her room.

Her superior caught her tone, and looked at her pointedly with a raised eyebrow. Her stare was more than sufficient to make Tea squirm in her seat as she surreptitiously attempted to avert her eyes to land on anywhere but Anya.

Anya sighed as she set her mug down. "I really don't want us to be spending money on lawyers' fees." It was meant to be a warning, but the helplessness seeping into her words were telling. She regarded Tea's face for the umpteenth time hopefully. "Are you positive you're not up for using your feminine charms on him?"

"Anya, for the last time, NO," Tea glared at the blond woman, who simply chuckled at her reaction. She sounded almost disappointed as she added, "Besides, I don't think it'll work on Kaiba."

"You mean to say he's immune to anything that doesn't relate to his cold reason," Anya offered as way of explanation. Tea seemed to mumble something upon hearing her words, but Anya took no heed of it. Instead, the head of the Natural Aesthetics Department hefted out a file from a rack beneath her desk and let it land with a huge thump on her desk. At Tea's questioning look, she elucidated, "It's just a manual the department's come up with, in case we come across stumbling blocks in our line of duty."

"We have an actual SOP manual?" Tea asked disbelievingly. She reached out for the heavy file and dragged it closer to her. True enough, its contents page indicated all the possible procedures that they could embark upon in their line of duty: fundraising campaign, sponsorship support, even legal consultation. She inquired of her superior without looking up from the file, "So, are we going to go down the legal route at this stage? Isn't it a bit early?"

Anya laughed at Tea's suggestion. "No, you silly girl, we're not. I know it's tempting to land the great Seto Kaiba in court, but we don't have good grounds for our case yet. Have you ever heard of public petition?"

Tea stared at the blond woman in front of her as horns had suddenly protruded from each side of her head. "You must be kidding me. A public petition in the face of Seto Kaiba is like a piece of scrap tissue for him."

"Whoever said it's merely a petition?" Anya countered smugly as she sank back into her seat and gave her chair a twirl, using her feet as pivot. "Public signatures, public support for us, public condemnation of Seto Kaiba." She framed the next few words with her hands in the air, "Citizens of Domino City versus Seto Kaiba, on Kawatsuki Park."

"Verdict: in favour of Seto Kaiba," Tea retorted sarcastically. "If we're lucky, we only need to pay a few millions as compensation for tarnishing the reputation of prominent citizen Seto Kaiba."

Her response evoked a hearty spate of laughter from Anya, which lasted a few more minutes when Tea cast her a murderous look. "You're the most optimistic girl I've ever met, but in the face of Seto Kaiba, all of it just dissipates," she managed to wheeze out in between laughter. "What is it about that man that makes you like this?"

"I'm going back to my desk to read this!" Tea announced, leaping up from her chair and holding the file aloft above her head, purposely hinting to Anya that she wasn't going to hear anymore about a certain CEO named Seto Kaiba. All those high school years spent by Yugi's side and dealing with Seto Kaiba on a regular basis – including his inflatable ego – was enough interaction to last her a lifetime.

_But guess what, I'm stuck having to deal with him again,_ she thought angrily as she stormed back to her desk. She could still hear Anya laughing behind her. She sighed as she thought back to her friends. Joey had gone to another town to work; Serenity was entrusted under Tristan's care, and Tea was quite certain that neither of them were in fields of work that require them to interact with the most arrogant man in Domino City. Yugi had taken on his father's business (reluctantly) for the next few months, and the both of them had agreed to put their relationship on hold while he was away overseas. In short, everyone found an escape route from having to deal with Kaiba, while she had to have a troublesome Seto Kaiba delivered on a silver platter to her.

"Overtime, overtime," she muttered as she slid her door shut behind her, resigning herself to extra hours of toiling at the office.

XO XO XO XO

"Mr Kaiba? Mr Kaiba?"

He raised his head slightly off the headrest and opened his eyes slightly. His pilot was leaning over him, peering at him from behind dark glasses. Sighing, Seto dismissed his pilot with a wave of his hand and reached out for his briefcase with his free hand. Meanwhile, his pilot had already leapt towards the door, holding it out for his employer.

"Get the engines checked in the hangar," Seto instructed as he stepped down the stairs leading out of his helicopter towards the ground. "And give her a good polish - she's getting dull."

"Will do, sir," his pilot assured him routinely.

The sound of the helicopter landing must have been deafening enough for the entire Kaiba mansion, because as soon as he reached the front door, it was already held out by his chief butler while another butler stood by ready to have his employer's briefcase thrusted into his hands.

"Welcome home, Mr Kaiba," they greeted him politely as he stepped past them. More out of habit rather than anything else, Seto declined to hand over his briefcase to them and proceeded instead to lay it down himself on a small table nearby designated for such a purpose.

He had scarcely removed his purple trenchcoat and set it down on top of his briefcase when he heard thuds coming down the stairway and a cheery voice welcoming him, "Seto, you're back!"

"How was class?" Seto asked by way of returning the greeting.

His younger brother made a face. "Boring," he answered simply as he bounded up next to Seto.

"Would you like me to take over your place there?"

"No," Mokuba Kaiba quickly declined, holding out a hand in front of him to demonstrate to his brother how abhorrent he thought the plan was. "Seto, you can't draw. You won't survive the course."

"Oh right, I'm only ever good with machines," Seto retorted drily. He gestured towards his butler to carry his briefcase and trenchcoat up to his room as he made his way to the dining hall. "What did you have for dinner?"

"You haven't eaten?" Mokuba sounded slightly surprised.

"Apart from people's souls, not yet." Even in his weary state, his brother could still afford some sardonic humour. Mokuba took the seat next to him, and the younger Kaiba watched as the maids scurried in and out to lay out a dinner portion for his brother. He barely stifled a chuckle when Seto pulled back slightly from the edge of the dinner table when a small pot of soup was placed in front of him; Seto shot him a look.

"I thought you hate oden," Mokuba commented as Seto reluctantly reached out for the oden sitting in front of him.

"I don't like it, but I'm not a picky eater," Seto muttered as he cautiously only took the broth and poured some over his plate of rice, leaving behind the contents of the oden in the pot.

"I don't get it, why do you hate oden so much? It's so warm and homely, especially during winter!" Mokuba pondered aloud as he helped himself to the contents left in the pot.

"Precisely why I don't like it, Mokuba," Seto's response was sharp and tart, indicating to his brother that he no longer wished to talk about it. "I don't want to hear about oden and winter."

Mokuba rolled his eyes; his brother caught him in the act, but pretended not to see. Suddenly Mokuba spoke up again, "Were people angry about your purchase of the park?"

"Let them; I don't have time to deal with their noise," Seto replied brusquely. By now, he was stabbing rather than spooning up his rice into his mouth. "The Heritage Centre even threatened me with a law suit."

His brother shrank back a little in his seat and peeked at Seto from the corner of his eyes as he suggested meekly, "Maybe if you'd just tell them what you're planning to use the site for…"

Seto stiffened. "I don't want them to know. I've told you this before, Mokuba. I don't care how good for the image of the company it will be, I don't want people to know." Switching course to dessert (thankfully, it was chocolate parfait), he took the chance to switch the focus of conversation to his brother, "And talking about it, how's the blueprint for it going?"

Mokuba's eyes brightened at the mere mention of it. "It's done!" he told his brother excitedly. "I even made a model of it; it's in your office now!"

Upon hearing it, Seto swiftly pushed his plate away and moved to get up from his seat. "Well, let's see it. I'm curious."

His younger brother frowned at him. "Seto, you could see it tomorrow. You look really exhausted."

Seto sighed as he led the way to his office. "I'll sleep after I see the model, okay?" He pushed the door open and flicked on the light switch. Mokuba's beam at that moment must have matched the brightness of the light as an extensive and detailed cardboard model of a sprawling mansion complete with a lake loomed into view as the centrepiece of the room. Seto turned to his brother and gestured towards the model, "Is this complete?"

"More than complete," Mokuba grinned. He half-ran over to his model, and removed the roof of the mansion. Seto peered inside. Mokuba was right; it was more than complete. Mokuba had sectioned off the mansion into different floors and into different rooms complete with miniature furniture. It was almost like looking at a dollhouse.

"Well?"

"This is brilliant, Mokuba," Seto complimented him sincerely even as he picked up a miniature bed to inspect it. "You did all of this?" At Mokuba's enthusiastic nod, he let out a chuckle. "School isn't that boring for you, after all."

"When are you going to have it built?" Mokuba asked excitedly.

"I'll send the blueprint to the contractors later," Seto replied absent-mindedly as he continued to explore the model further. "If they get enough people, it shouldn't take long."

"What about the kids?"

Seto thought for a while before he finally said softly, "Tomorrow. I'll visit them and send in all the paperwork tomorrow. There should be enough time for things to be processed before the mansion is completed." He glanced up to set his eyes on Mokuba, "Do you want to come along?"


End file.
